In Sicily, in the year 304, under the
ninth consulate of Dioclesian, and the eighth of Maximian, on the 12th of
August, in the city of Catana, St. Euplius, a deacon, was brought to the
governor’s audience-chamber, and attending on the outside of the curtain, cried
out: “I am a Christian, and shall rejoice to die for the name of Jesus Christ.”
The governor, Calvisianus, who was of consular dignity, heard him, and ordered
that he who had made that outcry should be brought in, and presented before
him. Euplius went in with the book of the gospels in his hand.

One of Calvisianus’s friends, named Maximus, said:
“You ought not to keep such writings, contrary to the edicts of the emperors.”
Calvisianus said to Euplius: “Where had you those writings? did you bring them
from your own house?” Euplius replied: “That he had no house, but that he was
seized with the book about him.” The judge bid him read something in it. The
martyr opened it, and read the following verses: Blessed are they who suffer
persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 1 And in
another place: He that will come after me, let him take up his cross, and
follow me. The judge asked him what that meant. The martyr answered: “It is the
law of my Lord, which hath been delivered to me.” Calvisianus said: “By whom?”
Euplius answered: “By Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.” Calvisianus
then pronounced this interlocutory order: “Since his confession is evident, let
him be delivered up to the executioners, and examined on the rack.” This was
immediately done, and the martyr was interrogated accordingly. Whilst they were
tormenting him the same day, Calvisianus asked him whether he persisted in his
former sentiments?

Euplius, making the sign of the cross on his
forehead with the hand that he had at liberty, said: “What I formerly said I
now declare again, that I am a Christian, and read the holy scriptures.” He
added, that he durst not deliver up the sacred writings, by which he should
have offended God, and that death was more eligible, by which he should gain
eternal life. Calvisianus ordered him to be hoisted on the rack, and more
cruelly tormented. The martyr said, whilst he was tormented: “I thank thee, O
Lord Jesus Christ, that I suffer for thy sake: save me, I beseech thee.” Calvisianus
said: “Lay aside thy folly; adore our gods, and thou shalt be set at liberty.”
Euplius answered: “I adore Jesus Christ; I detest the devils. Do what you
please; add new torments; for I am a Christian. I have long desired to be in
the condition in which I now am.” After the executioners had tormented him a
long time, Calvisianus bade them desist, and said: “Wretch, adore the gods;
worship Mars, Apollo, and Æsculapius.” Euplius replied: “I adore the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. I worship the Holy Trinity, besides whom there is no God.”
Calvisianus said: “Sacrifice, if you would be delivered.” Euplius answered: “I
sacrifice myself now to Jesus Christ, my God. All your efforts to move me are
to no purpose. I am a Christian.” Then Calvisianus gave orders for increasing
his torments.

Whilst the executioners were exerting their utmost
in tormenting him, Euplius prayed thus: “I thank thee, my God; Jesus Christ,
succour me. It is for thy name’s sake that I endure these torments.” This he
repeated several times. When his strength failed him, his lips were seen still
to move, the martyr continuing the same or the like prayer with his lips when
he could no longer do it with his voice. At length Calvisianus went behind the
curtain, and dictated his sentence, which a secretary wrote. Afterwards he came
out with a tablet in his hand, and read the following sentence: “I command that
Euplius, a Christian, be put to death by the sword, for contemning the prince’s
edicts, blaspheming the gods, and not repenting. Take him away.”

The executioners hung the book of the gospels,
which the martyr had with him when he was seized, about his neck, and the
public crier proclaimed before him: “This is Euplius the Christian, an enemy to
the gods and the emperors.” Euplius continued very cheerful, and repeated as he
went: “I give thanks to Jesus Christ, my God. Confirm, O Lord, what thou hast
wrought in me.” When he was come to the place of execution, he prayed a long
time on his knees, and once more returning thanks, presented his neck to the
executioner, who cut off his head. The Christians carried off his body,
embalmed and buried it. He is named in all the martyrologies of the western
church.

IN Sicily, in the year 304, under the ninth consulate of Dioclesian, and
the eighth of Maximian, on the 12th of August, in the city of Catana, Euplius,
a deacon, was brought to the governor’s audience-chamber, and attending on the
outside of the curtain, cried out: “I am a Christian, and shall rejoice to die
for the name of Jesus Christ.” The governor, Calvisianus, who was of consular
dignity, heard him, and ordered that he who had made that outcry should be
brought in, and presented before him. Euplius went in with the book of the
gospels in his hand. One of Calvisianus’s friends, named Maximus, said: “You
ought not to keep such writings, contrary to the edicts of the emperors.”
Calvisianus said to Euplius: “Where had you those writings? did you bring them from
your own house?” Euplius replied: “That he had no house, but that he was seized
with the book about him.” The judge bid him read something in it. The martyr
opened it, and read the following verses:Blessed
are they who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.1And in another place:He that will come after me, let him
take up his cross, and follow me.2The judge asked him what that meant.
The martyr answered: “It is the law of my Lord, which hath been delivered to
me.” Calvisianus said: “By whom?” Euplius answered: “By Jesus Christ, the Son
of the living God.” Calvisianus then pronounced this interlocutory order:
“Since his confession is evident, let him be delivered up to the executioners,
and examined on the rack.” This was immediately done, and the martyr was
interrogated accordingly. Whilst they were tormenting him the same day,
Calvisianus asked him whether he persisted in his former sentiments? Euplius,
making the sign of the cross on his forehead with the hand that he had at
liberty, said: “What I formerly said I now declare again, that I am a
Christian, and read the holy scriptures.” He added, that he durst not deliver
up the sacred writings, by which he should have offended God, and that death
was more eligible, by which he should gain eternal life. Calvisianus ordered
him to be hoisted on the rack, and more cruelly tormented. The martyr said,
whilst he was tormented: “I thank thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, that I suffer for
thy sake: save me, I beseech thee.” Calvisianus said: “Lay aside thy folly;
adore our gods, and thou shalt be set at liberty.” Euplius answered: “I adore
Jesus Christ; I detest the devils. Do what you please; add new torments; for I
am a Christian. I have long desired to be in the condition in which I now am.”
After the executioners had tormented him a long time, Calvisianus bade them
desist, and said: “Wretch, adore the gods; worship Mars, Apollo, and
Æsculapius.” Euplius replied: “I adore the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I
worship the Holy Trinity, besides whom there is no God.” Calvisianus said:
“Sacrifice, if you would be delivered.” Euplius answered: “I sacrifice myself
now to Jesus Christ, my God. All your efforts to move me are to no purpose. I
am a Christian.” Then Calvisianus gave orders for increasing his torments.

Whilst
the executioners were exerting their utmost in tormenting him, Euplius prayed
thus: “I thank thee, my God; Jesus Christ, succour me. It is for thy name’s
sake that I endure these torments.” This he repeated several times. When his
strength failed him, his lips were seen still to move, the martyr continuing
the same or the like prayer with his lips when he could no longer do it with
his voice. At length Calvisianus went behind the curtain, and dictated his
sentence, which a secretary wrote. Afterwards he came out with a tablet in his
hand, and read the following sentence: “I command that Euplius, a Christian, be
put to death by the sword, for contemning the prince’s edicts, blaspheming the
gods, and not repenting. Take him away.” The executioners hung the book of the
gospels, which the martyr had with him when he was seized, about his neck, and
the public crier proclaimed before him: “This is Euplius the Christian, an
enemy to the gods and the emperors.” Euplius continued very cheerful, and
repeated as he went: “I give thanks to Jesus Christ, my God. Confirm, O Lord,
what thou hast wrought in me.” When he was come to the place of execution, he
prayed a long time on his knees, and once more returning thanks, presented his
neck to the executioner, who cut off his head. The Christians carried off his
body, embalmed and buried it. He is named in all the martyrologies of the
western church. See his genuine acts in Baronius, Ruinart, Tillemont, t. 5, p.
695, Orsi.Those
published by Metaphrastes are spurious.

St Euplius obtained the crown of martyrdom in
Sicily during the persecution of Diocletian and Macimian. He was arrested while
reading the Gospel in the city of Catana, and brought before the governor,
Calvisianus, with the sacred volume in his hand. The governor asked him whether
he had brought those writings from his own house, or happened to have them
about him.

The saint replied: “I have no house; I carry them
about me, and was arrested with them.”

The judge ordered him to read something from them;
and the saint read the two following texts:

Blessed are they that suffer
persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And:
He that will come after Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me.

The judge inquired the meaning of these words.
Euplius replied: “This is the law of God, which hath been given me.”

“By whom?”

“By Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.”

“Since, then, thou dost confess thyself a
Christian,” said Calvisianus, “I shall deliver thee to the executioners, that
they may torture thee.”

While the saint was undergoing the torture,
Calvisianus said to him: “What dost thou say of thy confession?”

The saint replied: “That which I have said I now
repeat: I am a Christian!”

“But why,” said the judge, “didst thou not give up
those writings as the emperors have commanded?”

“Because I am a Christian. I will sooner die than
deliver them. IN them is eternal life, which is lost by him who would betray
what God has entrusted to his keeping.”

The saint replied: “I adore Jesus Christ, and
detest the demons. Torture as much as thou pleases, still shall I proclaim
myself a Christian.”

After the saint had been tortured for a considerable
time, the tyrant exclaimed: “Wretch that thou art! Worship our gods; adore
Mars, Apollo, Aesculapius.”

The martyr answered: “I adore the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, one only God; besides whom there is no God. May your gods
find no worshippers! I offer myself a sacrifice to the true God; nor is it
possible to change me.”

Calvisianus gave orders that his torments should be
increased to the utmost; and while this was being performed, Euplius was heard
to say: “I thank Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ. Since I endure these torments for
Thy sake, do Thou succor me.”

Although the agony of his torments caused his voice
and strength to fail him, his lips still moved, as if he would repeat this
prayer.

At last Calvisianus, seeing that the constancy of
the saint was not to be overcome, commanded his head to be struck off. The book
of the Gospels was tied round his neck, and, while he was proceeding to the
place of execution, the public crier proclaimed before him: “This is Euplius
the Christian, an enemy to the gods and to the emperors.”

But the saint ceased not to return thanks to Jesus
Christ, until he arrived at the place of execution, when, casting himself upon
his knees, he said: “Oh Lord Jesus Christ! I give Thee thanks for having
granted me strength to confess Thy holy name. Complete, Oh Lord, what Thou hast
begun, that Thy enemies may be confused.”

Then, turning to the people who had followed him,
he said: “Brethren, love the Lord with all your hearts; for he never forgets
those who love him. He remembers them during life and at the hour of their
death, when he sends his angels to lead them to their heavenly country.”

Having said these words, he presented his neck to
the executioner, who struck off his head, on the 12th of August, in the year
304. The Christians carried off his body, embalmed and buried it. The Acts of
his martyrdom are found in Ruinart.

The Martyr Archdeacon Euplus
suffered in the year 304 under the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian
(305-311). He served in the Sicilian city of Catania. Always carrying the
Gospel with him, St Euplus preached constantly to the pagans about Christ.

Once, while he read and
explained the Gospel to the gathered crowd, they arrested him and took him to
the governor of the city, Calvisianus. St Euplus confessed himself a Christian
and denounced the impiety of idol-worship. For this they sentenced him to
torture.

They threw the injured
saint into prison, where he remained in prayer for seven days. The Lord made a
spring of water flow into the prison for the martyr to quench his thirst.
Brought to trial a second time, strengthened and rejoicing, he again confessed
his faith in Christ and denounced the torturer for spilling the blood of
innocent Christians.

The judge commanded that
the saint’s ears be torn off, and that he be beheaded. When they led the saint
to execution, they hung the Gospel around his neck. Having asked time for
prayer, the archdeacon began to read and explain the Gospel to the people, and
many of the pagans believed in Christ. The soldiers beheaded the saint with a
sword.